Installation gauge or the like

ABSTRACT

A gauge specifically designed for mounting on &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;roughed-out&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; closet bolts and waste fittings is disclosed to indicate the bolts lengths and fitting depths which insure a maximum seal efficiency in the waste system. The gauge is a substantially rectangular member having facilities for &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;plumbing&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; and leveling the gauge with a conventional level, upstanding curved members framing guide holes to indicate bolt lengths, and a waste connection guide having accurate surfaces to indicate the proper depth of the waste couplings.

United States Patent [1 1 Smith Dec. 25, 1973 INSTALLATION GAUGE OR THE LIKE [76] Inventor: Jay R. Smith, 1 Kenilworth Dr.,

Millburn Township, Essex County, Attorney-Charles Recht NJ.

22 Filed: Aug. 4, 1971 [571 ABSTRACT [21] APPL No: 168,998 A gauge specifically designed for mounting on roughed-out closet bolts and waste fittings is disclosed to indicate the bolts lengths and fitting depths [52] CL 33/180 33/168 33/174 G which insure a maximum seal efiiciency in the waste [51] Int. Cl. GOlb 3/38 system The gauge i a substantiauy rectangular [58] Fleld of Search 33/180 R, 168 R, her having facilities for Plumbing and Ieveling the 33/174 G gauge with a conventional level, upstanding curved members framing guide holes to indicate bolt lengths, [56] References C'ted and a waste connection guide having accurate surfaces UNlTED STATES PATENTS to indicate the proper depth of the waste couplings. 3,345,857 lO/l967 Shutes et al 33/168 R 2,760,272 8/1956 Van Cantie 33/180 R 5 Clam, 5 D'awmg Flgures PATENTEUBEE25 I915 3.780.443

sum 1 ur 2 INVEN BY JAY RS TH CHARLES H. RECHT ATTORNEY INSTALLATION GAUGE OR THE LIKE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to lavatory devices and more particularly to gauges for conforming wall support fixtures and waste outlets for the installation of wall hung closet bowls.

Wall hung closets are supported ordinarily by closet bolts which are part of a floor mounted fixture support assembly installed in the utility space behind the finished walls. The fixture support assembly rests on the floor and is commonly held in vertical alignment by tie rods or bolts secured to the floor. Soil outlet waste and vent piping is commonly integrated into the fixture support assembly. In addition the assembly has a closet outlet soil connection herein referred to as a coupling or closet coupling which extends through the wall for connection to the closet bowl discharge opening or horn.

In general, the procedure followed in installing wall hung closets is one of trial and error. The installer initially approximates and cuts the closet bolts and roughly adjusts the waste connection coupling to fit the horn. After making this preliminary adjustment, the closet is installed on the bolts and held in position while the bolts are examined and if necessary, marked for a more precise cut. The closet is then removed, the bolts are re-cut and the coupling is readjusted and the closet re-installed. It is usually necessary to remove and reinstall the closet numerous times before the installation is completed.

Since wall closets are commonly constructed of vitreous china they are heavy, and have a low-friction surface making them extremely awkward to handle. Moreover, the possibility that the china surfaces will become cracked or chipped is increased many fold by the trial and error installation procedure.

In normal installations the back of the closet rests against bearing washers which insure that a minimum clearance is maintained between the closet and the wall. Since finished walls are not always plumb or flat, it is important that the minimum clearance is in fact maintained between the rear of the closet and any high spot on the wall. Failure to insure .this clearance will almost certainly crack the flanges of the china closet upon tightening the cap nuts on the closet bolts.

The discharge connection is customarily made with a gasket which is sandwiched between the closet horn and coupling connection. To insure a gas tight as well as a water tight connection the gasket which is placed on the closet horn in a recess, must be compressed by the coupling when the cap nuts are tightened on the closet bolts. The amount of compression (seal efficiency) is a function of the nipple extension in relation to the coupling or bearing washers and closet horn depth. Thus it may be appreciated that with the present trial and error installation procedure tight connections in the waste disposal system is achieved only by the most skilled craftsman.

Thus it is an object of the present invention to eliminate the trial and error approach to installing water closets and to furnish a simplified tool which eliminates the need for a skilled craftsman to insure a tight waste connection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing disadvantages are overcome and the installation problems are resolved in accordance with my invention as described hereinafter. My preferred embodiment takes the form of a gauge having a generally rectangularly shape which can be placed on the closet bolts protruding from a wall and used to accurately mark the closet bolts for cutting as well as to mark soil pipe for depth adjustment. lmportantly, the gauge accounts for non-planar mounting surfaces and high spots and can be used to predetermine the vertical and horizontal alignment of the closet.

The gauge is used in the following manner. F our large holes in the gauge are aligned on the closet bolts and the guage is pressed against the finished wall. In many installations the wall has high spots which must be compensated for or the china flanges of the fixture will be fractured during installation. Washers are used to give a clearance from such high spots and they are placed on the bolts between the wall and gauge. Care must be taken to insure that the washers fill the space behind the gauge and contact both the nuts and rear side of the gauge. A viewing aperture below each bolt hole of the gauge is used to view the bearing of the washers.

Next a level is placed on a protruding horizontal rib to check the horizontal alignment of the support bolts. Ater corrections, if any, are made the level is pressed against the gauge vertically, in alignment with a protruding vertical rib of the gauge to check for plumb with reference to the wall. Corrections to insure a proper attitude are made by adjusting the bearing washers. Again a check is made through the viewing aperture for proper washer bearing.

After verifying the proper bearing condition, the waste extension is determined. It must be recognized at this point that the waste pipe can take many forms. It can be of copper or caste metal, threaded externally so as to cooperate with an adjustable coupling or nipple, or of such a design as to cooperate with a conventional flange. Many of these fixtures are disclosed in text entitled AUDELS PLUMBERS AND STEAM F IT- TERS GUIDE No. 2 by Frank D. Graham. Reference may be made therefore to that text for additional details on different types of waste connection systems. In the preferred embodiment l have chosen to describe my invention cooperating with a SMITH ADJUS-TO- WALL TYPE waste fitting. Although the ensuing description relates to this particular fitting, it will be apparent that my gauge can be used also to determine the proper extension length of a variety of other waste fittings.

Briefly, the SMITH ADJUS-TO-WALL closet outlet connection works with a waste connection nipple having exposed male threads which protrudes through the wall from the fixture support. A coupling having internal mating threads is installed on the nipple which has been first coated with a sealing compound. The gauge has three depth settings conforming to the most common horn depths of commercial closets. Using an appropriate one of these settings the coupling is threaded onto the nipple until the depth is aligned with the desired depth setting of the gauge.

Having plumbed the wall and aligned the waste connection to the proper depth, the installer next marks the closet bolts for cutting. My gauge is equipped with upstanding members which exactly indicate the cutting depth, allowing for the thickness of the china flange.

Thereafter the gauge is removed, necessary cuts are made and the closet is installed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 sets forth the installation gauge in accordance with my preferred embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view taken along section line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows an installed wall hung water closet, the fixture support assembly and the manner in which the closet bolts support the closet;

FIG. 4 shows in an enlarged view the clearance between the closet and finished wall as maintained by properly positioned washers; and

FIG. 5 shows in an enlarged view the gasket connection between the closet horn and the waste pipe coupling.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION With reference to FIG. 1, it shows gauge 1 for conforming closet bolts and waste nipples preparatory to hanging a wall hung closet. In general, gauge 1 comprises depth setting surface 3 which is essentially a guide hole for embracing the waste connecting nipple once gauge 1 has been positioned with respect to the wall on the closet bolts 20, 21, (FIG. 3). It is composed of three pairs of oppositely aligned horn depth surface members, 11, 12, and 13 evenly spaced around the circumference of surface 3. In its contemplated use the installer sights across one of the pairs of members 11, 12 and 13 choosing the particular members which conform to the horn closet depth s (FIG. 5) given in the closet specification; e.g. if the horn depth is threefourths inch the sighting is made across member 12.

Gauge 1 incorporates semi-circular upstanding elongated bolt gauging surfaces 4, 5, 6 and 7 framing the upper half section of guide holes 40-43. When gauge 1 is positioned on the bolts through four guide holes 4043, the bolts are partially enclosed by gauging surfaces 4,5,6, and 7. Surfaces 4,5,6, and 7 each have the same length b and this length represents the correct length of the closet bolts. During the installation procedure herein before described, washers are mounted on the closet bolts and gauge 1 is mounted so that the rear thereof bears on the washers. The bolt holes in gauge 1 are shaped as keyways, such as keyway surfaces 8, to enable the installer to insure the alignment of the washers in the recessed circular surfaces axially aligned with guide holes 40-43 and at the rear thereof. The positioning of one circular recessed surface, surface 15, which is axially aligned with guide hole 41 is shown in FIG. 2. It is to be understood that the other recessed surfaces or detents (not shown) are similar to surface shown here.

Gauge 1 also comprises a handle 14 which is conveniently positioned to lift gauge 1 onto and off the closet bolts. The handle formed by rectangular surface 14 is perpendicular to the substantially flat surface plane of gauge 1.

Raised rib surfaces, herein named horizontal plumb guide 9 and vertical plumb guide 10, are used by the installer as guides for leveling gauge 1. The installer rests a level against raised surfaces 9 and 10 to plumb" guide 1 as herein before discussed with respect to the finished wall.

To fully understand and appreciate the utility of my gauge, l have shown in FIGS. 3-5 a typical wall hung closet l6 and fixture support assembly 17. Looking first at FIG. 3, it will be observed that closet bolt 20 and 21 extend from assembly 17 through the finished wall and unto flange 33 of closet 16 where cap nuts 22 and 23 are secured. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of closet bolt 20 showing additional details. For example, the positions of bearing washer 26 and bearing nut 26A can be seen. Washer 26 as well as others (not shown) situated on the remaining closet bolts maintain the minimum dimension 2 between the wall and closet required by closet manufacturers. FIG. 4 also serves to demonstrate the problems of properly cutting closet bolts when one considers the various surfaces which are encountered in dimension x.

The waste-to-horn connection is shown both in FIGS. 3 and 5. FIG.5 describes in an enlarged section the compression of circular gasket 31 by a properly adjusted internally threaded coupling 28. The horn recess depth s shown in FIG. 5 is given by manufacturers. It is this depth which is set by gauge depth members 11, 12 and 13 as previously discussed. Proper use of gauge 1 insures that the compression of gasket 31 is neither too little, causing gas and water leaks, or too excessive leading to a fracture of the china.

It is to be understood that the principles described herein are not limited to a particular type of wall hung water closet or to a special fixture support assembly. It is considered that the teaching extends to urinals, to bidet fixtures, and to various kinds of wall hung fixtures. In addition, the principles of this gauge can be used for a syphon-jet type closet.

I claim:

1. A gauge for determining mounting closet bolt lengths and the depth of a waste connection extending through a finished wall in order to insure that a wall hung water closet is plumb with said finised wall, said gauge having a substantially flat surface with a plurality of first guide openings in spaced apart relation, the positions of said openings relative to one another conforming approximately to the positions of said closet bolts, elongated means upstanding from said flat surface framing a portion of each of said guide holes, said elongated means being adapted to indicate at the ends thereof the proper length of closet bolts extending through each of said guide holes, said surface also having a relatively large second guide hole adapted to embrace said waste connection extending through said second guide hole and having an upstanding member radially aligned about said second guide hole to indicate the proper depth of said waste connection with relation to said closet bolts, and a pair of alignment surfaces substantially perpendicular to each other and formed on said flat surface being adapted to serve as a guide for plumbing the rear surface of said gauge with respect to said finished wall.

2. The invention recited in claim 1 further including concentric pairs of oppositely aligned surface members spaced about the circumference of said second guide hole, and each of said pairs of surface members being at a different raised distance and adapted to indicate different depths of said waste connection.

3. The invention recited in claim 1 further including a plurality of circular recesses each having an axis common to an axis of said first guide openings, and said recesses being situated on the rear surface of said gauge and adapted to embrace bearing washers utilized in giving a clearance between high spots on said finished wall and said rear surface.

4. The invention recited in claim 1 wherein said alignment surfaces include two elongated raised rib surfaces intersecting at one of said first guide openings and extending toward different other ones of said first guide openings.

5. A gauge for determing mounting closet bolt lengths as well as the extension depth of a waste connection from a finished wall preparatory to the installation of a wall hung water closet comprising a substantially rectangular member having a first plurality of guide holes in spaced relation, the relative positioning of said guide holes in said rectangular member conforming approximately to the relative positions of said closet bolts, two raised rib surfaces connecting one of said guide holes to different other ones of said guide holes, said rib surfaces being perpendicular to one another and adapted to serve as horizontal and vertical guides to plumb said gauge with relation to said finished wall, upstanding semi-circular elongated means framing the upper half sections of each of said guide holes, each of said elongated means being adapted to indicate at the respective ends thereof the precise lengths at which said bolts extending through said guide holes are to be cut, a raised handle surface means extending perpendicular to the plane of said rectangular member, said surface means being adapted to serve as a handle for movement of said gauge, a plurality of recessed circular surfaces having an axis common to each of said guide holes, said circular surfaces being situated at the rear of said rectangular member and opposite to each of said elongated means, said rectangular member having a relatively large second guide hole adapted to embrace said waste connection which extends through said second guide hole when said gauge is placed on said closet bolts, pairs of oppositely aligned surface members having substantially equal arc lengths and being evenly distributed about the circumference of said second guide hole, and each of said pairs of members being at a different raised distance from the plane of said rectangular member for indicating different depths of said waste connection. 

1. A gauge for determining mounting closet bolt lengths and the depth of a waste connection extending through a finished wall in order to insure that a wall hung water closet is plumb with said finised wall, said gauge having a substantially flat surface with a plurality of first guide openings in spaced apart relation, the positions of said openings relative to one another conforming approximately to the positions of said closet bolts, elongated means upstanding from said flat surface framing a portion of each of said guide holes, said elongated means being adapted to indicate at the ends thereof the proper length of closet bolts extending through each of said guide holes, said surface also having a relatively large second guide hole adapted to embrace said waste connection extending through said second guide hole and having an upstanding member radially aligned about said second guide hole to indicate the proper depth of said waste connection with relation to said closet bolts, and a pair of alignment surfaces substantially perpendicular to each other and formed on said flat surface being adapted to serve as a guide for plumbing the rear surface of said gauge with respect to said finished wall.
 2. The invention recited in claim 1 further including concentric pairs of oppositely aligned surface members spaced about the circumference of said second guide hole, and each of said pairs of surface members being at a different raised distance and adapted to indicate different depths of said waste connection.
 3. The invention recited in claim 1 further including a plurality of circular recesses each having an axis common to an axis of said first guide openings, and said recesses being situated on the rear surface of said gauge and adapted to embrace bearing washers utilized in giving a clearance between high spots on said finished wall and said rear surface.
 4. The invention recited in claim 1 wherein said alignment surfaces include two elongated raised rib surfaces intersecting at one of said first guide openings and extending toward different other ones of said first guide openings.
 5. A gauge for determing mounting closet bolt lengths as well as the extension depth of a waste connection from a finished wall preparatory to the installation of a wall hung water closet comprising a substantially rectangular member having a first plurality of guide holes in spaced relation, the relative positioning of said guide holes in said rectangular member conforming approximately to the relative positions of said closet bolts, two raised rib surfaces connecting one of said guide holes to different other ones of said guide holes, said rib surfaces being perpendicular to one another and adapted to serve as horizontal and vertical guides to plumb said gauge with relation to said finished wall, upstanding semi-circular elongated means framing the upper half sections of each of said guide holes, each of said elongated means being adapted to indicate at the respective ends thereof the precise lengths at which said bolts extending through said guide holes are to be cut, a raised handle surface means extending perpendicular to the plane of said rectangular member, said surface means being adapted to serve as a handle for movement of said gauge, a plurality of recessed circular surfaces having an axis common to each of said guide holes, said circular surfaces being situated at the reAr of said rectangular member and opposite to each of said elongated means, said rectangular member having a relatively large second guide hole adapted to embrace said waste connection which extends through said second guide hole when said gauge is placed on said closet bolts, pairs of oppositely aligned surface members having substantially equal arc lengths and being evenly distributed about the circumference of said second guide hole, and each of said pairs of members being at a different raised distance from the plane of said rectangular member for indicating different depths of said waste connection. 